Card connector

ABSTRACT

A card connector ( 1 ) comprises a first insulative frame ( 4 ) fixed to a mounting surface ( 3   a ), and a second metal frame ( 5 ) defining an insertion cavity ( 10 ) for a card ( 2 ) between the mounting surface ( 3   a ) and the second frame ( 5 ). The second frame ( 5 ) is of a channel shape, and has first and second side walls ( 5   b   , 5   c ). An inverted card insertion preventing projection ( 30 ) for preventing the card ( 2 ) from being inserted upside down into the insertion cavity ( 10 ) is provided on one of the first and second side walls ( 5   b   , 5   c ) The inverted card insertion preventing projection ( 30 ) projects in an area (A) of the insertion cavity ( 10 ) associated with the first half of a card inserting stroke.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a connector for a card such as an ICcard.

2. Description of Related Art

In FIG. 11A, there is shown a connector 80 as a card connector of thistype. In the connector 80, an insertion cavity 85 for receiving a card84 inserted therein is defined, as shown in FIG. 11A, by fixing asynthetic resin frame 82 of a generally open-square shape as seen inplan onto a substrate 81 and covering the frame 82 with a channel-shapedmetal frame 83 as shown in FIG. 11B.

In general, an inverted insertion preventing structure for preventingthe card 84 from being inserted upside down into the insertion cavity 85is provided on a side wall 86 of the synthetic resin frame 82.

Lateral sides of the insertion cavity 85 of the connector of FIG. 11Aare respectively defined by lateral side walls 86 of the synthetic resinframe 82. This poses a problem that the card connector 80 has alaterally expanded footprint on the substrate 81.

A conceivable approach to reduction of the footprint is to significantlyreduce the lengths of the side walls 86 of the synthetic resin frame 82,reduce the thicknesses of the side walls 86 and define the lateral sidesof the insertion cavity 85 by lateral side walls 87 of a cover 83.

In this case, however, the lateral side walls 86 of the synthetic resinframe 82 are disposed in an inner portion of the insertion cavity 85, sothat the inverted card insertion preventing structure is disposed in theinner portion of the insertion cavity 85. As a result, a user does notrealize the inverted insertion until the card 84 is inserted deeply intothe inner portion of the insertion cavity 85.

Hence, there is a possibility that the user forcibly squeezes the card84 into the innermost position of the insertion cavity 85 to damage thecard 84 and the like.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a card connectorwhich assuredly prevents the inverted insertion of a card with asimplified structure.

According to a preferred mode of the present invention to achieve theaforesaid object, there is provided a card connector, which comprises:an insertion cavity for receiving a card inserted therein in a cardinserting direction; a first insulative frame fixed to a mountingsurface and defining a rear side of the insertion cavity; a plurality ofcontacts held by the first frame as facing toward the insertion cavity;a second metal frame of a channel shape fixed to the mounting surfaceand having a top plate parallel to the mounting surface and first andsecond side walls to define the insertion cavity between the mountingsurface and the second frame; and an inverted card insertion preventingprojection provided on one of the first and second side walls of thesecond frame for preventing the card from being inserted upside downinto the insertion cavity, the inverted card insertion preventingprojection projecting in an area of the insertion cavity associated withthe first half of a card inserting stroke.

According to this mode, the insertion cavity is defined by the first andsecond side walls of the second frame of the channel-shaped metal plate,so that the footprint of the card connector on the mounting surface canbe reduced. In addition, a user is alerted to the inverted cartinsertion at a relatively early stage of the card insertion. Thus, theinverted card insertion can assuredly be prevented.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a card connector according toone embodiment of the present invention and a card;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a first synthetic resin frame whichholds pin contacts;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are a plan view and a front view, respectively, of thecard connector;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of the card as seen from an ejection side end facethereof;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a second frame of a metal plate providedwith an eject mechanism as seen from a diagonally lower side;

FIG. 6A is a schematic diagram illustrating a relationship between acard inserted in a normal state and an inverted card insertionpreventing projection, and FIG. 6B is a schematic diagram illustrating arelationship between a card inserted in an inverted state and theinverted card insertion preventing projection;

FIG. 7 is a schematic plan view illustrating the relationship betweenthe card inserted in the inverted state and the inverted card insertionpreventing projection;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a second frame provided with an ejectmechanism according to another embodiment of the present invention asseen from a diagonally lower side;

FIG. 9 is a schematic sectional view of an inverted card insertionpreventing projection according to further another embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic sectional view of an inverted ard insertionpreventing projection according to still another embodiment of thepresent invention; and

FIGS. 11A and 11B are a schematic plan view and a schematic front viewof a conventional card connector.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFFERED EMBODIMENTS

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described withreference to the attached drawings.

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a card connector according toone embodiment of the present invention and a card. Referring to FIG. 1,a card connector 1 is a connector in which a card 2 such as an IC cardis inserted in an inserting direction X and set, and is constructed suchthat a first frame 4 of a synthetic resin having an open square shape asshown in FIG. 2 and a second frame 5 of a channel-shaped metal plate asshown in FIG. 1 are provided on a surface of a substrate 3 as a mountingsurface 3 a. The second frame 5 has a top plate Sa and first and secondside walls 5 b and 5 c.

The card 2 has a front face 2 a, a back face 2 b, an insertion side endface 2 c, an ejection side end face 2 d, a first lateral side face 2 eand a second lateral side face 2 f. Though not shown, the insertion sideend face 2 c, which serves as a connection face of the card 2, isprovided with a multiplicity of socket contacts.

Referring to FIG. 2, on the other hand, the first frame 4 is insulative,and serves as a pin housing in which a multiplicity of pin contacts 6 tobe connected to the socket contacts of the card 2 are press-fitted. Morespecifically, the first frame 4 includes a main portion 7 which holdsthe pin contacts 6, and a pair of lateral side walls 8 and 9 each havinga smaller length and extending from opposite ends of the main portion 7in a card ejecting direction Y.

Referring to FIG. 1, the connector 1 has an insertion cavity 10 definedbetween the second frame 5 and the substrate 3 for receiving the card 2inserted therein in the inserting direction X. The first frame 4 isdisposed behind the insertion cavity 10. An eject arm 11 of a metalplate for ejecting the card 2 from the insertion cavity 10 in theejecting direction Y by pressing the insertion side end face 2 c of thecard 2 inserted in the insertion cavity 10 is also disposed behind theinsertion cavity 10.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIGS. 3A and 3B which are a schematic plan viewand a schematic front view, respectively, of the card connector 1, theeject arm 11 is slidable on a lower surface of the top plate 5 a of thesecond frame 5. A pair of first engagement portions 11 a (particularlyshown in FIG. 3B but only one of the first engagement portions shown inFIGS. 1 and 3A) to be engaged with the insertion side end face 2 c ofthe card 2 are provided at laterally opposite ends of the eject arm 11,and a second engagement portion 11 b to be engaged with a metal platelink arm 13 of an eject mechanism 12 is provided at a middle portion ofthe eject arm 11.

The eject mechanism 12 includes an operation arm 14 of a metal platemanually operated and supported slidably in the card inserting directionX and in the card ejecting direction Y on an outer surface of the secondside wall 5 c of the second frame 5. The operation arm 14 is supportedby a pair of angled guide support members 21 and 22 cut and raised fromthe second side wall 5 c. The operation arm 14 is slidably guided alongthe outer surface of the second side wall 5 c by the guide supportmembers 21 and 22.

The eject mechanism 12 transfers the operation of the operation arm 14to the eject arm 11 via the link arm 13, whereby the card 2 inserted andset in the insertion cavity 10 is ejected from the insertion cavity 10.

The link arm 13 is pivotal about an axis 15 on an upper surface of thetop plate 5 a of the second frame 5. This axis 15 is provided by a pivot16 disposed at a middle position between first and second ends 13 a and13 b of the link arm 13.

The second engagement portion 11 b of the eject arm 11 is engaged withan engagement hole 17 provided at the first end 13 a of the link arm 13.A bent engagement portion 18 provided at the second end 13 b of the linkarm 13 is engaged with a pair of engagement portions 19 and 20 providedat a first end 14 a of the operation arm 14, whereby the second end 13 bof the link arm 13 and the end of the operation arm 14 are pivotallycoupled to each other.

A support portion 23 of a synthetic resin is fixed to a second end 14 bof the operation arm 14, and an operation portion 24 to be depressed bya finger is supported by the support portion 23 pivotally about apredetermined axis 25 within an angular range of, for example, 90degrees.

After the card 2 is inserted and set in the insertion cavity 10, theoperation portion 24 is pivoted upward with respect to the supportportion 23 into an out-of-use state for clearance. When the card 2 is tobe ejected, the operation portion 24 is reclined from the out-of-usestate into an in-use state in alignment with the support portion 23.Though not shown, the operation portion 24 can be kept in the in-usestate and in the out-of-use state by a predetermined retention force.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 4 which illustrates the card 2 as seen fromthe ejection side end face 2 d, first and second grooves 26 and 27 arerespectively provided in the first and second lateral side faces 2 e and2 f of the card 2 as extending in the ejecting direction Y to middleportions of the first and second lateral side faces 2 e and 2 f. Asshown in FIG. 4, a width W2 of the second groove 27 is greater than awidth W1 of the first groove 26.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the second frame 5 provided with theeject arm 11 and the eject mechanism 12 as seen from a diagonally lowerside. Referring to FIG. 5, the first and second side walls 5 b and 5 cof the second frame 5 are respectively provided with first and secondgrounding projections 28 and 29 projecting inward therefrom. Theprojections 28 and 29 are each raised from one side of a correspondingopening as having a chevron shape. The projections 28 and 29 aredisposed in the vicinity of an entrance to the insertion cavity 10.

Though not shown, the front face 2 a, the back face 2 b and the lateralside faces 2 e and 2 f of the card 2 are partly covered with a metalshell, so that electrical connection from the metal shell of the card 2inserted in the insertion cavity 10 to the substrate 3 via the first andsecond projections 28 and 29 and the second frame 5 is established forthe grounding of the card 2. The first and second projections 28 and 29may respectively be fitted in the first and second grooves 26 and 27 toguide the card 2 when the card 2 is inserted. That is, the first andsecond projections 28 and 29 may also serve as guide projections for thecard insertion.

The second side wall 5 c which supports the operation arm 14 of theeject mechanism 12 has an inverted card insertion preventing projection30 provided inward of the second projection 29 (with respect to theinserting direction X) in the insertion cavity 10. The inverted cardinsertion preventing projection 30 is, for example, angled to project inthe insertion cavity 10 as shown in FIG. 3A.

When the card 2 is inserted into the insertion cavity 10 by pressing theejection side end face 2 d thereof, the projections 28 and 29 move inthe corresponding grooves 26 and 27 of the card 2 and, at the end of acard inserting stroke, are dislodged from the corresponding grooves 26and 27 to ride on the corresponding lateral side faces 2 e and 2 f ofthe card 2. Thus, the projections 28 and 29 are brought into contactwith the metal shell not shown on the lateral side faces 2 e and 2 f ofthe card 2 with a resilient depressing force.

However, the projections 28 and 29 are permitted to be fitted in thegrooves 27 and 26, respectively, when the card 2 is inserted upside downinto the insertion cavity 10 (with the front face 2 a and the rear face2 b being inverted), i.e., when the inverted insertion occurs.

A feature of this embodiment is to assuredly prevent the invertedinsertion described above at an early stage of the card insertion.Therefore, the inverted card insertion preventing projection 30 isdisposed in a front half portion of the insertion cavity 10, i.e., in anarea A associated with the first half of the card inserting stroke (seeFIG. 1).

As shown in FIG. 6A, the width W of the inverted card insertionpreventing projection 30 is greater than the width W1 of the firstgroove 26 and smaller than the width W2 of the second groove 27.

Referring to FIG. 6A, when the card 2 is inserted in a normal state withits front face 2 a upward, the inverted card insertion preventingprojection 30 is fitted in the corresponding wider second groove 27 ofthe card 2, thereby permitting the card insertion.

On the other hand, when the card 2 is inserted in an inverted state withits rear face 2 b upward as shown in FIG. 6B, the inverted cardinsertion preventing projection 30 is not fitted in the correspondingnarrower first groove 26 of the card 2 to abut against the insertionside end face 2 c of the card 2, thereby preventing the card insertion.

According to this embodiment, the lateral sides of the insertion cavity10 are defined by the pair of side walls 5 b and 5 c of the second frame5 of the channel-shaped metal plate, so that the footprint of the cardconnector 1 on the substrate 3 can be reduced. In addition, a user isalerted to the inverted cart insertion at a relatively early stage ofthe card insertion by the inverted card insertion preventing projection30. Thus, the inverted insertion of the card 2 can assuredly beprevented.

The inverted card insertion preventing projection 30 is a projection cutand raised from the second side wall 5 c of the second frame 5 and,therefore, the formation thereof is easy and less costly.

FIG. 8 illustrates another embodiment of the present invention.Referring to FIG. 8, this embodiment differs from the embodiment of FIG.5 in the following points. The first projection 28 provided in theembodiment of FIG. 5 is eliminated in this embodiment. The secondprojection 29 and the inverted card insertion preventing projection 30are separately provided in the embodiment of FIG. 5, but an invertedcard insertion preventing projection 30A supported at opposite endsthereof and doubling as the second projection is provided as shown inFIGS. 8 and 9 in this embodiment for simplification of the structure.Further, the inverted card insertion preventing projection 30A can moreflexibly be laid out.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above.For example, an inverted card insertion preventing projection 30B bulgedas shown in FIG. 10 may be provided rather than the cut and raisedinverted card insertion preventing projection.

While the present invention has thus been described in detail by way ofthe specific embodiments thereof, those skilled in the art whounderstand the foregoing description will easily come up withmodifications, variations and equivalents of the invention. Therefore,it should be understood that the scope of the invention be defined bythe following claims and the equivalents thereof.

1. A card connector comprising: an insertion cavity for receiving a cardinserted therein in a card inserting direction; a first insulative framefixed to a mounting surface and defining a rear side of the insertioncavity; a plurality of contacts held by the first frame as facing towardthe insertion cavity; a second metal frame of a channel shape fixed tothe mounting surface and having a top plate parallel to the mountingsurface and first and second side walls to define the insertion cavitybetween the mounting surface and the second frame; and an inverted cardinsertion preventing projection provided on one of the first and secondside walls of the second frame for preventing the card from beinginserted upside down into the insertion cavity; the inverted cardinsertion preventing projection projecting in an area of the insertioncavity associated with a first half of a card inserting stroke.
 2. Acard connector as set forth in claim 1, wherein the inverted cardinsertion preventing projection abuts against an insertion side end faceof the card to prevent the insertion of the card when the card isinserted upside down into the insertion cavity, and wherein the invertedcard insertion preventing projection is fitted in a groove formed in acorresponding lateral side face of the card as extending in the cardinserting direction to permit the insertion of the card when the card isinserted in a non-inverted normal state into the insertion cavity.
 3. Acard connector as set forth in claim 1, wherein the inverted cardinsertion preventing projection includes a projection cut and raisedfrom one of the first and second side walls of the second frame.
 4. Acard connector as set forth in claim 3, wherein the inverted cardinsertion preventing projection includes a projection supported at oneend thereof.
 5. A card connector as set forth in claim 3, wherein theinverted card insertion preventing projection has a mountain shape asprojecting in the insertion cavity and is supported at opposite endsthereof.
 6. A connector as set forth in claim 1, wherein the invertedcard insertion preventing projection includes a projection bulged fromone of the first and second side walls of the second frame.
 7. A cardconnector as set forth in claim 1, wherein the inverted card insertionpreventing projection functions as a card grounding projection.
 8. Acard connector as set forth in claim 1, wherein the inverted cardinsertion preventing projection functions as a card guiding projectionfor guiding the card into the insertion cavity when the card is insertedin the non-inverted normal state into the insertion cavity.
 9. A cardconnector as set forth in claim 1, wherein an upper side of theinsertion cavity is defined by the top plate of the second frame, andlateral sides of the insertion cavity are respectively defined by thefirst and second side walls of the second frame.
 10. A card connector asset forth in claim 1, further comprising an eject mechanism for ejectingthe inserted card from the insertion cavity, wherein the eject mechanismcomprises an eject arm for pressing the insertion side end face of thecard inserted in the insertion cavity in a card ejecting direction, andan operation arm linked to the eject arm via a link arm, wherein theoperation arm is supported slidably along an outer surface of the sidewall of the second frame provided with the inverted card insertionpreventing projection.